Download Unit 4 Phrases 4.1. The structure of phrases The concept of `phrase

Unit 4 Phrases
4.1. The structure of phrases
The concept of ‘phrase’
Element of structure that
- contains more than one word
- lacks subject-predicator structure
- is classified as various types according to the type of head
The form of phrases: heads and modifiers
-NPs, Adj Ps and Adv Ps
({M}+H+{M})
Head: essential element which determines the kind of phrase
Modifiers: optional elements; they may occur more than once.
Premodifiers:
NP: A good movie
Adj P: A movie that is very good
Adv P: Very curiously, it was a good movie
Postmodifiers:
NP: That movie had something strange
Adj P: That movie was good enough
Adv P: Curiously enough, it was a good movie
Clauses (nominal –appositive– and relative; see unit 5)
-Prep Ps
({M}+H+C)
Shortly after the meeting
Complements: obligatory elements in Prep Ps, typically realized by NPs.
- VPs
({Aux}+{Aux}+{Aux}+{Aux}+H)
Those files should have been being examined
The function of phrases. Rankscale and rankshift: main phrases and subordinate phrases
Main phrases: direct constituents of clauses
That dog attacked my neighbours the other day
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2
3
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Subordinate phrases: part of other phrases
That big dog with long dark hair attacked my neighbours the other day
Rankscale: a hierarchical arrangement of units according to their syntactic complexity.
Larger (complex) units are made up of smaller (less complex) units at a lower level in the scale.
+
Words
Phrases
Clauses
–
Sentences
Rankshift: the rankscale reversed. It allows larger or more complex units to occur in smaller
units or units of their same level:
Clauses:
The film that we liked because it has the film star we admire came off immediately
Phrases:
That man in the corner by the gate of the bank near the building looks like my dad
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4.2. Major classes of phrases
4.2.1. Noun Phrases (NPs)
a) The function of NPs
- Clause level
-Subject
-Direct Object
-Indirect Object
1.
That morning he asked me the most interesting question
---------------------- ----NP (Advl)
2.
3.
-Adverbial
- Subject adjunct
-Subject Complement - (Object adjunct)
-Object Complement
NP(Sj)
---- ----------------------------------------------------
NP(IO)
NP(DO)
A rather old man, He was Secretary of State
----------------------------- ----NP (Sj.Adj.)
NP(Sj)
--------------------------------NP(Cs)
The Queen has now appointed him Prime Minister
------------------ ------------------NP (Sj)
NP(DO)
NP(Co)
- Phrase level
-Modifier of the H of a NP
Gold jewels are very expensive
--------- N (H)
NP(Premod)
------------------------NP(Sj)
-In apposition
Bush, the president of the US, was not in France last week
N (H) ---------------------------------------NP (Postmod)
---------------------------------------------------NP (Sj)
-Complement of the H of a Prep. P
We all left the room in the morning
Prep ------------------(H)
NP (C)
------------------------Prep. P
b) The form of NPs
-Head:
Noun:
Pronoun
Adjective
Enumerator
(Genitive phrase
My car had another breakdown
It will cost me another 100 pounds
The French are proud of their cars
Fifteen died in the crash
I had to go to the dentist’s for a filling)
Ellipsis: adjective, enumerator and genitive phrase.
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-Premodifiers:
NP
The petrol station was closed
Art(Det) ---------- N(H)
NP(Prem)
-----------------------------NP
Adj P
That was the wrong side of the board
Adv P
The upstairs room
The back seat
It was quite {a good party}
The then president
------------ N(H)
Adj P(Prem)
-------------------------------------------------NP
------------- N(H)
AdvP(Prem)
------------------------------------NP
--------- N(H)
AdvP(Prem)
----------------------------NP
-------N(H)
AdvP(Prem)
----------------------------------NP
Prep.P
-------- N(H)
AdvP(Prem)
----------------------------------NP
An under water attack
---------------------- N(H)
Prep P(Prem)
----------------------------NP
-Postmodifiers:
Adj P
Prep P
Adv P
Guns suitable for deer-hunting
N(H) ------------------------------------------AdjP (Postm)
-------------------------------------------------------NP
The end of the street
N(H) --------------------PrepP (Postm)
-------------------------------------NP
The lights overhead
The people inside
N(H) ----------------AdvP (Postm)
-----------------------------------NP
Clauses (Rankshift): Relative Cl:
N(H) ---------------AdvP (Postm)
--------------------------------------NP
The unit that I like is that of semantics
N(H) ---------------Rel Cl (Postm)
--------------------------------NP
Appositive Cl:
The belief that some people are more important than others is probably wrong
N(H) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Appositive Cl (Postm)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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NP
-The order of co-occurring modifiers realized by adjectives (1990:392)
Det
The
The
A
My
Genitive
general
little
age
colour
old
blue
participles
-ed/-ing
provenance
or style
crumbling
Gothic
hectic
extravagant
sister’s
nice
His
little
heavy
noun
denominal
-relating to
-consisting of
social
London social
church
new
H
of
NP
life
life
tower
dress
moral responsibilities
-Determiners in the NP: they introduce NPs.
predeterminers, central determiners and postdeterminers
At that point I had forgotten all my other problems
c) Genitive Phrases
We will consider them as NP
Function:
Premodifier in the NP
Form:
NP with inflected H for case
Meanings: (1990:103)
Possessive genitive:
My sister’s coat
Subjective genitive
The boy’s application
Objective genitive
The suspect’s release
Genitive of origin
The girl’s story
Descriptive genitive
A women’s college
Genitive of measure
Ten days’ sick-leave
Genitive of attribute
The party’s popularity
Partitive genitive
The heart’s two ventricles
My sister has a coat
The boy applied for...
Somebody released the suspect
The girl told a story
A college for women
A sick-leave that lasts 10 days
The party was popular
The heart has two ventricles
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4.2.2. Prepositional Phrases
Function
Clause level
Adverbial: circumstances (place, time, manner, instrument, agency, cause...)
He was killed by a terrorist (agency)
He was killed with a spear (instrument)
He talks like her father (manner)
His brother is ill with the flu (cause)
Subject complement
be/ become/ seem/ turn/ sound/ grow + in love / at a loss / out of breath
Object complement
His attitude put us under pressure
Suddenly, they found themselves in danger
He left him at a loss
Prepositional Objects: prepositions may be in close syntactic and semantic relation with
verbs (see 1990:336-343).
Look at that!
He told us about the crash
Prepositional verbs should be distinguished from PHRASAL VERBS (V + adv ).
He never showed up
I need to hand in an essay tomorrow
Phrase level
Postmodifier of the Head of:
NPs
The woman in the red dress disappeared
Complement
NPs research on atomic energy
Adj Ps Interested in stamps
ready for the party
Adv Ps It happened far from my town
Prep Ps She came from behind the house
Form
Head: preposition
Complement: NPs
Adv Ps
Prep Ps
Premodifier:
Adv Ps
Outside the museum
From inside
Since then
Until before the end of the game
Just after the end
Right through the bottle
The Head is rarely separated from its complement, but:
Stranded prepositions
People you laugh at
The book I’m interested in
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4.2.3. Adjective Phrase
Function
Clause level
Subject Complement
Object Complement
Subject Adjunct
Object Adjunct
Phrase level
Premodifier in NPs
Postmodifier in NPs
My tea had gone cold
I find it irresistible
He came sober
I painted the kitchen blue
You must be mental!
You drive me mad!
He was shot dead (pass.)
She cut her hair short
My legendary Irish friend
Guns suitable for elephant hunting
Form
Head: adjective
Premodifiers:
Adv P That’s too bad
NP
Her answer was crystal clear
He wore a sky blue top
Postmodifiers:
Adv P It was very nice indeed
It is bad enough to make me leave
Complements:
Prep P She was keen on dancing
It was not appropriate for the occasion
Clauses
Nominal (appositive) Finite:
I’m glad that you came
I’m afraid that this is impossible
Nominal Non-finite:
She was eager to leave
She was ready to leave everything
4.2.4. Adverb Phrase
Function
Clause level
Adverbials
On that occasion she was feeling unable to decide
However, she knew she needed to escape
Phrase level
Premodifier of the Head of
NPs
Adj Ps
Adv Ps
Prep Ps
Postmodifier of the Head of
NPs
Adj Ps
Adv Ps
Complement of the H of Prep Ps
Modifier of NPs
Form
The back room is empty
Her granny had been seriously ill
I’m trying to speak very slowly
I left immediately after the event
The reference below
Very nice indeed, congratulations!
You don’t work hard enough
I drove from here
That was quite a party!
Head: Adverb
Premodifiers Adv Ps
Complementation Prep Ps
He spoke so quietly
He stays far from here
Come and sit next to me
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4.2.5. Verb phrases
Function: predicator
Form:
Head: Full verb
Auxiliaries: Operators [ (aux) (aux) (aux) (aux) + H ]
Modality:
Perfect phase:
Progressive aspect:
Passive voice:
Modal verbs
HAVE
BE
BE
She should have been being cared for
Auxiliary-operator is the first auxiliary in the verb phrase and it takes negation and inversion in
interrogative constructions.
-Dummy operator DO provides support in interrogative and negative constructions,
except with BE and modal verbs
English verb phrases:
Finite: present vs. past:
Base form:
3rd p. sing.:
Past:
type
types
typed
Non-finite:
Bare infinitive
To infinitive
Present participle
Past participle
type
to type
typing
typed
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